Report

Lordswood tumbled out of the Kent League Cup after an abject 2^nd half performance let them down

Steve Coates and Steve Arnold took control of this game again with boss Jason Lillis watching from the stands as he continued his recovery from knee surgery.  The management were forced into making one change from last week with youngster Dave Saunders coming in from the reserves to replace the unavailable Adam Hooper.

The game started with Lordswood much in the ascendancy for the first 20 minutes, looking by far the stronger side and rushing Erith into making some uncharacteristic errors.  Indeed the game was only 2 minutes old when Dominic Elmes intercepted a loose pass before playing in George Hayes who jinked inside but his shot was blocked by the defence for a throw in.

Minutes later and Lee Maskell latched onto another loose Erith pass.  He spread the ball wide for debutant Saunders who ran forward, beat his marker but his shot from 20 yards went over the bar.

It took Erith 15 minutes to register their first effort, Liam Burgess shotting straight at Matt Byott from 25 yards.  A second chance came their way moments later when James Hawkins beat Adam Ling to the ball and his deep cross was met by Lewis Wood at the far post but his effort hit Byott’s legs and went wide for a corner.

On 27 minutes Richard Styles headed straight at the keeper from Ling’s corner and then Hayes went on a run from halfway which resulted in his shot from the edge of the box being saved by Alex Hyde in the Erith goal.

Erith hit back and Billy Shinners run and cutback to Wood saw the diminutive midfielder’s shot deflected for a corner by Styles.  Wood fluffed his lines 10 minutes from the break when he found himself with time and space in the area but his attempted volley trickled harmlessly wide.

Lordswood finished the half strongly.  Good work by Saunders and Hayes on the left saw Hayes’ deep cross controlled at the back post by Nathan Taylor but his attempted shot was blocked for a corner.  Then Saunders tricked his way down the left wing, turned the defender inside-out before firing a great shot that was well tipped over by Hyde.

The second half started and it seemed to be a different Lordswood side out on the pitch.  Erith started to turn up the pressure as they sought that important goal and started to look more threatening.  The first warning shot was fired on 53 minutes.  Styles lost possession 30 yards from goal, and Wood floated a ball across to Shinners who controlled the ball but lost his footing as he was about to shoot and Byott gathered. 

Minutes later and Shinners got even closer.  Grant Brown’s superb cross whipped across the box and Shinners met the ball on the slide but somehow managed to toe-poke it over the bar.

Chris Walker tried his luck as he cut inside from the right, evading Imran Englefield’s challenge but shot high and wide from 30 yards.

On 61 minutes Erith finally got the goal that they had been threatening.  An uncharacteristic misplaced pass by Maskell was capitalised on as Shinners was played through the defence and he beat Byott to the ball to slot the ball home.  A minute later and Erith had doubled their lead on the day and given themselves a one goal lead on aggregate. Walkersurged down the right and his cross evaded everyone but Wood who made no mistake from close range.

Things went from bad to worse for Lordswood as Richard Styles saw red for a dangerous tackle on 68 minutes, and from then on Lordswood were facing an uphill battle.

Save for a couple of Maskell free-kicks, Lordswood never really saw another sight at goal, and as they pushed forward looking for a goal which would take the tie to extra-time, Erith struck the killer blow.  Alex Tiesse collected the ball on the left touchline at halfway and surged forward avoiding attempted tackles from Ling and Eather before advancing into the box and finding the bottom right hand corner.

Definitely a game of two halves here and boss Jason Lillis will be looking for a positive reaction next week as the Lords face VCD Athletic at Martyn Grove for the third time this season in a league clash